Most things that seem too good to be true really are. A question that many planners get asked all the time is "Do you offer day-of coordination?" Today, I'm going to break down for you why any good professional's answer to this question will be no. A day-of coordinator is essentially a myth, for these reasons:
1. Logistically, it just doesn't make sense. No planner can just come on the day of the wedding and have everything perfectly fall into place. In no other profession are you expected to jump in on day 1 and start working on the important projects. In order to do the best job that we can do as planners, we're going to need a whole lot more foundation work than you might think. We can't simply show up and get with the program- we're expert planners after all. We're going to want to make sure that we have a chance to get acquainted with your vendors and your vision for how you want the wedding to go before diving right in.
2. Preparation for any wedding requires more than just 1 day of work. Most of the work for a wedding planner occurs either in the beginning stages of planning with vendor research and selection, or close to your wedding when timelines and logistics really need to start coming together. A partial coordinator will still need to do most of the work minus the vendor research and selection, and they usually work with about half of the knowledge that they would have had coming in at the very beginning stages of planning. We will need to be the last-minute point of contact for vendors, we contingency plan and solve any last-minute problems that come up, we make sure everything runs smoothly the day of the wedding, and we make sure contracts are adhered to. But perhaps most importantly, we relieve you in the days leading up to your wedding so you don't have to worry. Doesn't that sound like a much nicer transition to your wedding day than you having to stress until the planner gets there the day of your wedding? We cannot magically make a wedding come together in a day, but we sure do make magic happen with a partial planning package.
3. And lastly, we take pride in the work that we do. We are in the hospitality industry because we care about our clients, and we want to make these moments as special for our clients as they can be. That extra special attention that we give each of our clients does not result from half-assed planning on our part. I think this quote on my week-of wedding coordination page perfectly sums it up: "I am unique from other partial planners because just showing up on the day of your wedding isn't good enough for me. I want your special day to be absolutely perfect, and to do that I believe that a planner should have a more hands-on and personal role in the planning. I don't just want to carry out a timeline for the day- I want to share your vision and execute it flawlessly. Choose me as your planner, and we will work together to tie up loose ends as I help you in the last moments leading up to your special day."
"So if I want someone to help tie up loose ends in the planning and manage my wedding day-of, who/what do I look for?"
This is a job you'll want an experienced planner to do. Although they won't be called a "day-of planner" or be offering "day-of services," they will still do the tasks that you envision needing a day-of planner for. Usually these kind of short-term wedding planner packages/services go by a different name. They might be referred to as "partial coordination," "week-of coordination," "month-of coordination," or "partial planning." I call my equivalent of a day-of coordination my "Week-of Coordination Package," simply because I will start familiarizing myself with your wedding about a month out, but most of the real work happens in the week before your special day.
My week-of wedding coordination package includes:
On the floor coordination on your wedding day
Unlimited phone calls and emails to your coordinator
Creating a day-of timeline and distributing it to vendors
Facilitating set up day-of
Vendor recommendations
Keeping track of vendor contracts and marriage license
Last-minute problem solving
All week-of communication with vendors
For more on my Week-of Coordination Package, click HERE.
I hope your biggest takeaway after reading this post is that your wedding planner does care about you, but that doesn't just mean that your wedding planner will offer you a day-of coordination package because that's what you are asking for. We're denying you that service simply because we know it sets unrealistic expectations for your wedding, and we want to coordinate your wedding the right way.
Until next time!
